Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company: Building dozens of large-scale sugarcane fields

Intensive farming, solution to increase sugarcane productivity

If in the 2017-2018 crop year, the whole Tan Ky district had only 250 hectares of intensively cultivated sugarcane, this 2018-2019 crop year has increased to nearly 900 hectares. The sugarcane area is concentrated in the communes of Tan Xuan, Giai Xuan, Tan Phu, Ky Son, Tan Hop, Nghia Dong... serving the Song Con sugarcane factory.

Farmers in Giai Xuan commune, Tan Ky district take care of sugarcane. Photo: Tran Chau

Tan Phu Commune (Tan Ky) has a large sugarcane growing area of ​​329 hectares, spread over 12 hamlets. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hue, an agricultural officer of Tan Phu Commune, said: After the district had a policy to build a large sugarcane field of 50 hectares, the commune surveyed and decided to choose Thong Nhat Hamlet as a pilot with an area of ​​80 hectares, and the people all agreed to support it.

Initial results show that planting concentrated sugarcane fields has helped people save time, care costs, and mainly production machinery. Ms. Le Thi Ha is one of 79 households in Thong Nhat hamlet, Tan Phu commune participating in the concentrated sugarcane field model, sharing: "My family has over 1 hectare of sugarcane, previously planted scattered in some locations, so the care time was prolonged and the quality of the sugarcane was not high. This crop year, seeing that the commune had a concentrated sugarcane growing model, my family immediately participated, now the sugarcane is growing well."

Ky Son Commune is also one of the localities with concentrated sugarcane area exceeding the set plan. This achievement is the result of the efforts of the local government and Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company. The whole commune currently has 107 hectares of sugarcane, of which a concentrated sugarcane field applying science and technology of 74 hectares has been formed in two hamlets Hung Cuong 1 and Hung Cuong 2.

Comrade Dinh Viet Hong, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, visited the model sugarcane field in Tan Ky. Photo: Xuan Hoang.

Ms. Ta Thi Thuy - Vice Chairman of Ky Son Commune People's Committee said: In 2017, the factory and the locality worked together to unify the implementation of the concentrated sugarcane field. Since August 2017, the commune has held meetings with the people to thoroughly understand and listen to their opinions. At first, only 70 households participated. The commune and Song Con Sugar Factory directly mobilized and explained to the people. In addition, the Company has made commitments on support policies for sugarcane growers, ensuring reasonable purchase prices and harvesting sugarcane on time. Thanks to that, the number of participating households has increased to 104 households.

Implementing investment in intensive sugarcane cultivation according to the large-scale field model, communes in Tan Ky received additional funding support from the NTM program.

On the side of Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company, it has supported farmers in mechanizing planting, land preparation, weeding... with a support level of 6.5 million VND/ha, helping farmers select new sugarcane varieties for planting, and fertilizer. During the care process, the Company continues to support using machines at a level of 2 million VND/ha...

Mr. Nguyen Cong Trung - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tan Ky district said: After the policy of building 50 hectares of sugarcane in each commune focusing on applying science and technology, localities enthusiastically participated, mobilizing people to join hands in building with a total sugarcane area of ​​nearly 900 hectares. Among them, there are communes with large concentrated sugarcane areas, exceeding the set plan such as Giai Xuan 173 hectares, Tan Xuan 160 hectares, Tan Phu 80 hectares, Ky Son 74 hectares. This is a way to help people reduce input costs, reduce care time while also improving sugarcane productivity and quality. Sugarcane productivity reaches approximately 100 tons/ha.

For communes that have not yet implemented this, we will continue to survey to find methods for land consolidation and plot exchange, and build concentrated sugarcane fields in the coming crop years. In 2018, Tan Ky increased 600 hectares of sugarcane compared to the plan.

Increase competitiveness

Applying machinery to sugarcane cultivation in Tan Ky. Photo: Document

Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company’s raw material areas have also expanded to many districts. The factory’s sugarcane area in 2018 reached 7,600 hectares, an increase of 600 hectares compared to 2017.

In addition to implementing many support policies for sugarcane growers, Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company is also actively developing internal roads to facilitate the transportation of sugarcane in remote fields with difficult traffic. Regarding sugarcane varieties, the Company is also applying high-yield sugarcane varieties with stable sugar content and good stubble retention such as LK 92-11, KK3... which not only help improve the quality of raw materials but also increase income for sugarcane growers.

Song Con Sugarcane Joint Stock Company currently has nearly 7,000 hectares of sugarcane, of which more than 3,000 hectares are high-quality sugarcane, with a yield of nearly 80 tons/ha. Identifying intensive cultivation and increasing sugarcane productivity as the leading competitive solution in the difficult context, in the past two years the Company has focused on investing in mechanization to plant and care for sugarcane. In addition, the Company is implementing a solution to rent land from farmers to accumulate large areas for more efficient production.

Accordingly, the Company will lease the entire land area on the land that is eligible to apply scientific and technological advances in sugarcane production investment. The Company will pay the land rent directly to the land user.

Mr. Nguyen Ba Quy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Song Con Sugar Company, said: The company will invest in in-depth innovation of the production line in the direction of increasing recovery efficiency, increasing product quality, and reducing costs in price. In addition, it will continue to coordinate with farmers to build sustainable raw material areas.

2018-2019 pressing season: Song Con Sugarcane Company pressed 426,821 tons of sugarcane, produced 43,821 tons of sugar, revenue reached 566 billion VND. Plan for 2018-2019 pressing season: The Company pressed 350,000 tons of sugarcane, produced 35,000 tons of sugar, revenue reached 475 billion VND.